The Prospects came into Friday night’s game after an exciting Game 4 in Edmonton that was won by the Prospects in a 10th inning walk-off wild pitch, ultimately forcing a “winner take all” Game 5 in Medicine Hat with the winner going to the WMBL Championship.

Rich Walker would get the ball in Game 5 and be tasked with pitching the Prospects to the Finals. Walker has been one of the better pitchers for the Prospects this year, including pitching a perfect game earlier in the season.

The Prospects would get on the board first after Tony Olson would get on base with a lead-off walk, just like he did in Game 4 and eventually be batted in by Michael Gahan putting the Prospects up 1-0 early in Game 5.

Rich Walker would pitch a scoreless first inning before the strong Medicine Hat bats would rough him up in the 2nd, scoring 7 runs and putting the Prospects in a hole very early. Rich Walker would ultimately finish with 1.1 IP, allowing 5 hits and 7 earned runs.

Medicine Hat would put up 3 more runs in the bottom of the fourth as they would get to first Chase Morris and then reliever Jordan Smith, surprisingly none of the runs being earned runs as the Prospects would shoot themselves in the foot with errors.

The Prospects would try to claw back in the late innings. Michael Gahan would score in the 7th off a Daylen Calicdan single, but the Prospects, unfortunately, would leave 3 players on base in the inning. They’d grab another run in the 8th inning via a Michael Gahan single to bring in Tony Olson, they’d leave 2 runners on base in that inning and in 9th inning Eric Crain would hit a home run to bring the Prospects within 7 but that’s as close as they’d get as they’d fall to Medicine Hat 11-4 in Game 5 and their season would end.

The Prospects left 14 runners stranded in Game 5 and put up 5 errors as the potential for them to be in this game was there.

Congratulations to the Medicine Hat Mavericks on a hard-fought series and may the best team win in the WMBL Championship!

All in all, it was a good season by the Prospects as they made it to the Western Division Finals and one game from the WMBL Championship. Thanks to the fans for support the team all year and we can’t wait until 2019 for another great season of Prospects baseball.

Player of the Game:

Michael Gahan will get our last Prospects Player of The Game for the season, Gahan went 2-4 in this one with 2 RBI’s and a run scored.

Exciting Game 4 Win! By Arik Krause

The Prospects came into Thursday nights game on the brink of elimination in the Western Division Finals of the Western Major Baseball League after a tough 14-3 loss against Medicine Hat on Wednesday. With their backs against the wall, Edmonton would play one of the most exciting games of the year.

Josh Sieglitz would get the start on the mound in Game 4 for the Prospects and be tasked with stopping a very potent Medicine Hat offence.

The Prospects would get on the board first after Tony Olson would get on base with a lead-off walk. Anthony Cusati would drive Olson in with a two-out double to right field and the Prospects would go up quickly 1-0 in Game 4.

Sieglitz would pitch two scoreless innings before Reed Odland of the Mavericks would put one over the fence tying the game 1-1 in the top of the third. The Mavericks would score the very next inning as well of a Sal Rodriguez double to center field scoring Carson Johnson. That would end Sieglitz’s night as Braedan Alleman would come into the game.

The two teams would go back and forth for five innings going scoreless before finally, the Prospects would get a break. Eric Crain with a two-out double to left field would keep the inning alive before AJ Nitzschke would tie the game and bring Crain in off a single to center field.

We’d go through the ninth without any scoring and for the first time this series we’d go to extra innings. That’s where things got interesting. Anthony Cusati would lead off the bottom of the 10th for the Prospects with a walk. After Daylen Calicdan would hit it to the pitcher moving Cusati to second base, Cusati would once again advance to third on a fielder’s choice. With two outs in the bottom of the 10th and a man on third base, Zane Takhar would come up to bat and on a 1-2 count Barry Caine would throw a wild pitch and Cusati would score walking off the Mavericks in Game 4.

The Prospects exciting 3-2 win Thursday night means we’ll be playing a series-deciding Game 5 Friday night in Medicine Hat with a chance to go the WMBL Championship on the line.

Player of the Game:

Braedan Alleman is our Player of The Game in this one as he’d come in to pitch in the top of the fourth inning and pitch 6.1 innings of scoreless baseball, allowing only 5 hits and 7 runs as he’d get the win for the Prospects in Game 4.

Upcoming Schedule:

Friday, August 10 – Game 5, Away Game

Series 3 – TBD

Prospects Down 2-1 in 5-Game SeriesBy Arik Krause

Following a 7-6 Game 2 win in Medicine Hat, the Prospects would come into Re/Max Field with home-field advantage in a pivotal Game 3 matchup.

Connor Burns would be given the ball to start the game, the St. Albert native is in his second year with the Prospects and has pitched pretty well for the team this year going 3-3 with a 3.69 ERA in 8 games played.

The Prospects would get a perfect start to this game as the first two Prospects Tony Olson and Michael Gahan would both get on base to begin the game. Nick Spillman would drive Olson in with a single to center field. The next batter Anthony Cusati would triple to center field, bringing in Nick Spillman.

Daylen Calicdan would cap off an amazing first inning for the Prospects sacrificing himself while Cusati would come in to score and the Prospects would go up 3-0 after the first inning.

Medicine Hat would answer back in the fourth and fifth inning putting up six runs respectively in both innings, followed by two runs in the eighth as the Mavericks bats were just too much for the Prospects to handle.

Standouts for the Mavericks include Zack Gray & Carson Johnson who both had 3 hits for the Mavericks in this game.

The Mavericks outhit the Prospects 17-6 and outscored the Prospects 14-3, pushing the Prospects to the brink of elimination for the first time this postseason.

The Prospects put together a much better showing in Game 2 against Medicine Hat which show’s that they can beat this team if they play good baseball and shouldn’t be counted out yet.

If you haven’t already, be sure to get your tickets to Game 4 in Edmonton on Thursday night!

Player of the Game:

Anthony Cusati is our Prospects “Player of The Game” in this one as he was the only Prospects hitter to get two hits. He went 2-4 with 1 RBI.

Upcoming Schedule:

Thursday, August 9 – Game 4, Home GameFriday, August 10 – Game 5, (if necessary) Away Game

Series 2, Game 2 vs MH By Arik Krause

Following a 10-4 game 1 loss against Medicine Hat, the Prospects would need to turn it around the very next night and they did exactly that by putting on a good performance Tuesday night.

Edgar Barclay would take the mound in Game 2 ultimately pitching 4 good innings before getting banged up in the fifth.

The Mavericks would get on the scoreboard first after David Salgueiro would get on base from a lead-off walk. He'd eventually get batted home by Zack Gray and put the Mavericks up 1-0 early.

Medicine Hat would hold the lead until the top of the third where the Prospects would put up a statement inning. AJ Nitzschke would lead off with a single and would come home off a Tony Olson single. Michael Gahan would double and bring Olson. The very next batter Anthony Cusati would also double and bring in both Zane Takhar and Michael Gahan. The Prospects wouldn't stop there as Eric Cain would get a base hit that would score Anthony Cusati. Daylen Calicdan and Eric Crain would also come around to score as the Prospects would put up a monstrous 7-run 3rd inning and take the lead 7-1.

The Mavericks would bang up Barclay in the fifth inning for three runs to crawl back into the game 7-4. Ultimately Michael Gahan would come in as relief and for the third time this postseason pitch amazing innings for the Prospects. Gahan would have two runs scored on him in the ninth, only one of the earned as he would hold off the Mavericks comeback and even the series for the Prospects.

Barclay who left the game in the sixth inning would get the win in this game earning his second win this postseason.

The Prospects put together a much better showing in Game 2 against Medicine Hat and will take the home-field advantage into Re/Max Field Wednesday night.

If you haven't already, be sure to get your tickets to Game 3 in Edmonton on Wednesday night!

Player of the Game:

Michael Gahan is proving to be quite the utility player for the Prospects and he'd slice 2-5 for an RBI and also come around to score at the plate. Along with pitching 3.1 innings allowing 1 hit and 1 ER.

Series #2, 1st Game Loss By Arik Krause

Following a four-game series win over the Okotoks Dawgs where the Prospects were the underdogs, the Edmonton Prospects would travel down to Medicine Hat to take on the end-of-regular-season division-leading Medicine Hat Mavericks for the first game of the Western Division Finals.

Taran Oulton would get the ball handed to him in Game 1 and be tasked with stopping an incredibly strong Medicine Hat team. The Mavericks would jump on him early scoring runs in both the first two innings and four out of the five innings that Oulton would pitch in.

The Prospects would get on the scoreboard in the top of the 2nd following a 1st inning where the Mavericks would score off a Sal Rodriguez single. Eric Crain would drive in Beaux Guilbeau off a double and the Prospects would tie the game 1-1.

Carson Johnson would hit a triple, driving in David Salgueiro and would eventually score himself as the Mavericks went up 3-1 after two innings.

Edmonton would get those runs back in the top of the third off an Anthony Cusati sacrifice fly that would bring in Tony Olson, and then Daylen Calicdan would drive in Zane Takhar and the Prospects would tie the game 3-3.

Medicine Hat's David Salgueiro would put a two-run homer over the fence in the bottom of the fourth to give the Mavericks a 5-3 lead.

Anthony Cusati would once again drive another Prospect in, this time Zane Takhar, to get another run back for the Prospects in the top of the fifth to cut the lead to 5-4. That's as close as the Prospects would get in the latter part of this game as the Mavericks would shell out five more runs over the course of the game to eventually win 10-4.

The Mavericks outhit the Prospects 15-7 and won Game 1 of the Western Major Baseball League, Western Division Finals.

If you haven't already, be sure to get your tickets to Game 3 in Edmonton on Wednesday night!

Player of the Game: Zane Takhar was pretty good in this game reaching base twice, once off a hit and once off a walk, he would come around to score both times, accounting for half of the Prospects runs.

Upcoming Schedule:

Tuesday, August 7 – Game 2, Road game in Medicine Hat Wednesday, August 8 – Game 3, Home Game Thursday, August 9 – Game 4, (If necessary) Home Game Friday, August 10 – Game 5, (if necessary) Road Game